The Anti-Corruption Commission(ACC) has detected irregularities in appointment of consultant for themuch-hyped Padma multipurpose bridge project.
"We have found some irregularitiesin appointing consultant firm, and it's appointment was illegal," ACCchairmen, Golam Rahman, told reporters at a media briefing on Wednesday.
He added: "For confirmation,if needed, they may quiz other persons."
Rahman, however, turned downmedia reports on demanding 10 per cent commission by former communicationminister Abul Hossain, former secretary of bridge division Mosharraf HossainBhuiyan and former project director of Padma bridge from the consultancy firm.
"A section of mediayesterday reported that they have demanded commission from the Canadian companySNC-Lavalin, but our investigation found it baseless one and distorted. TheWorld Bank report that the ACC received earlier and the media report does notcorroborate," he added.
He said as the process ofappointing the farm was unlawful, officials who were involved in the processmust shoulder their responsibility.
Asked about how long theinvestigation will continue to clear the issue, he replied saying, 'only Godknows it'.
ACC has taken a decision to quizAbul Hossain, former communication minister again in the light of thedisclosures made by Mosharraf Hossain Bhuian, former secretary of the bridgeauthority and Ziaul Haque, the local representative of SNC-Lavalin inBangladesh, the ACC official said
ACC on Tuesday quizzed WhipNur-e-Alam Chowdhury Liton's brother Nixon Chowdhury to find out whether therewere any irregularities in appointing the consulting firm. The ACC also quizzedformer State Minister for Foreign Affairs Abul Hasan Chowdhury over the sameissue on Jun14.
ACC official said the bridgeproject has earmarked Tk 3 billion the consultant firms to supervise theoverall construction of the bridge. SNC-Lavalin topped the short-list of fivefirms proposed by the evaluation committee headed by Dr Jamilur Reza Chowdhury.
After the World Bank suspendedits $1.2 billion credit to the $2.9 billion Padma Bridge project in Octoberlast year blaming corruption, the ACC decided to investigate into the charges.On February 2, it declared that no corruption has taken place in selectingpre-qualified contractors list for the project.